Sliding partition



May 21, 1957 Filed Se t. 30, 1955 E. JENSEN SLIDING PARTITION Z. \INVENTOR. EMANUEL JENSEN 2 ATTORNEYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1957 E. JENSEN 2,792,596

SLIDING PARTITION Filed Sept. 30, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 46 45 V 40 L z: 34 F 36, E (a a? 40 5 E .ZEJ.

, ATTORNEYS May 21, 1957 E. JENSEN' 2,7 6

' SLIDING PARTITION Filed Sept. 30, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 -/o INVENTOR.

EMANUEL JENSEN BY z 7 TOR/VEYS United States Patent SLIDING PARTITION Emanuel Jensen, San Francisco, (:alif.

Application September 30, 1955, Serial No. 537,742

3 Claims. (Cl. 2019) This invention relates to room partitions of the kind made up of a plurality of panel members movable from a partition-forming arrangement where they extend across a room to storage space at one or two walls of the room when they are not in use.

It is common practice to provide such partitions wherein panels are arranged to slide or roll in tracks on the floor and grooves in the ceiling. The storage facilitates at the sides of the room, however, very greatly in construction and usually include some arrangement of branch tracks or pivots to enable the individual panels to be stored side-by-side in a relatively small storage space. These arrangements include visible and space consuming guides and hardware, and require sidewise movement or swinging of the panels which is undesirable, particularly when the panels are large and heavy.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages of conventional sliding partitions and to provide storage facilities for partition panels in which they are compactly stored with a minimum of effort and a minimum of exposed hardware.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sliding partition in which the individual panels thereof are moved to side-by-side positions for storage with a very small sidewise or swinging movement and upon easily operated guide means.

Further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention and the manner in which it is carried into practice are made apparent in the following specification where reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a central, vertical sectional view through a pivoted storage rack which forms a part of the present invention showing a panel in place thereon,

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation, with parts in section, of the same rack,

Fig. 3 is a view in edge elevation of a single sliding panel of the type used in the present invention illustrating the manner in which it is guided in the floor and ceiling of a room,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view looking upwardly as on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view looking downwardly as on the line VV of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a schematic view in horizontal section of a storage compartment or closet for the storage rack of the present invention showing the position of the rack therein and of a panel in position to enter the rack.

Generally speaking, the present invention includes a pivoted rack with tracks at its lower portion and guide grooves at its upper portion adapted to register with the tracks in the floor and grooves in the ceiling which support the panels of a sliding partition. With this arrangement, one panel is moved onto the rack at a time. After receiving each panel, the rack is swung to a new position where one of its empty tracks aligns with the floor track and the next panel is moved onto the rack.

Such a rack is shown in Fig. 1, where a panel is shown at 9, as comprising a vertical post 10 mounted for pivotal movement in a thrust bearing 11 at its lower end and a bearing member 12 at its upper end. Adjacent its bottom, the post 10 supports a track frame best illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 as comprising a plurality of parallel tracks 13 joined at their inner ends as by an angle iron 14 and adjacent their outer ends by an angle 15 to hold them in spaced parallel relationship. The whole assembly is fixed to the pivoted post 10 as by a strap 16 bolted and welded if desired to the post and to the track frame. Each of the tracks 13 is formed of an inverted T-bar with the outer end of its web portion separated from its flange portion so that the web portion which forms the track may be bent adjacent its outer end to an angle where it will align with a centrally disposed floor track which is indicated at 17 in Fig. 1. This arrangement is also illustrated in Fig. 3 where a groove 18 is shown in a portion of the floor indicated at 19. Other types of tracks are commercially available which fasten to a floor surface without the necessity of a groove and may be used if desired. The outer end of the track frame is additionally supported as by anti-friction rollers 21 carried by the angle member 15 and bearing on a wear plate 22 secured to the floor 23 of the closet in which the rack is disposed and which floor is lower than the main floor 19 of the room in which the panels are used.

A latch lever 25 is pivotally supported as at 26 to a bracket 27 which rises from the floor 23 and is urged upwardly about its pivotal support by a spring 28 shown in Fig. 2. The upper edge of the latch lever 25 is notched as at 29 at a point in alignment with the floor track 17 and the notch is engageable with the under edge of an extended end of any one of the tracks 13 on the track frame. At its free end, the lever 25 has a horizontally extending ear 31 extending to a position beneath a portion of the floor 19 where it may be depressed by a foot actuated plunger 32 so that the track frame will be released for pivotal movement and may be stopped With another of the tracks 13 aligned with the main floor track 17.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the upper end of each panel is guided in a groove 34 formed in the room ceiling 35. Anti-friction rollers 36 extending upwardly from the top of the panel are received in this groove. The bottoms of the panels have grooved rollers 37 which ride on the tracks to support the weight of the panels while the rollers 36 at their tops hold them in a vertical position. A guide frame is provided adjacent the upper end of the pivoted post 10 to provide a plurality of overhead grooves corresponding to the main ceiling groove 34. These grooves are shown at 39 in Figs. 2 and 4 which, with Fig. 1, illustrate the construction of the guide frame. This guide frame is made of a panel 40 which may be of wood connected at its inner end by angles 41 and 42 or other suitable bracket members to the post 10 by a strap 16a. Spaced bars of Wood or other material shown at 43 are fixed to the underside of the panel 40 to provide the inverted grooves which receive the rollers 36 on the tops of the panels. The configuration of these bars 43 is such that the grooves fan outwardly adjacent their outer ends for alignment with the main ceiling groove 34 when the rack is pivoted from side to side. The angularity of the outer ends of the grooves 34 corresponds, of course, with the angularity of the outer ends of the tracks 13 on the track frame at the lower end of the post 10.

The guide frame at the upper end of the post is supported adjacent its outer end by anti-friction rollers 45 (see Figs. 1 and 2) supported from an angle 46 on the upper surface of the member 40 and bearing upon a wear plate of angular configuration shown at 47 and supported from the ceiling at its opposite ends by means not shown.

The entire pivoted rack including the post 10, the track frame at its lower end and the guide frame at its upper end is disposed in a closet schematically shown at 49 in Fig. 6 which is built into or adjacent one wall of the room in which the sliding partition is used. Where the room is large and a great many panels are employed, there may be a similar closet at its opposite wall. About one-half of the front face of the closet 49 is open and adapted to be closed by a door 50 which is made of two parts hinged together and hinged to the closet in the manner indicated in Fig. 6. This type of door shown in its partially open position may be closed without interference with the panels when they are in partition-forming position across the room, and the extreme end of the last panel is close to the front wall of the closet 49.

In operation the panels which are extended across the room in a manner to form a partition may be stored in the closet 49 by sliding them onto the tracks 13 one at a time, the rollers at their upper edges being received in the grooves 34 of the guide frame. When the first panel has been received in the rack, the latch lever 25 is released and the rack swung to a position with another of its tracks in line with the main floor track for reception of the next panel. Since the outer ends of the tracks 13 on the track frame, as Well as the grooves 34 in the upper guide frame, are arranged for direct alignment with the floor track and ceiling grooves, the panels move easily into place without a change in direction as their rollers pass from the main track onto the tracks in the rack and the sidewise movement of the panels is minimized. When all of the panels are in place and the door to the closet 49 is closed, there are no exposed switch tracks as employed in some systems, and there is no necessity at any time for swinging a panel completely at right angles to its normal position, as is necessary in many such systems. All of the mechanism necessary for storing the panels in a concealed position is easily operated and completely concealed.

I claim:

1. In combination with a plurality of panels forming a partition in a room and slidable toward one side of the room on a floor track and overhead guide means, means for storing the panels adjacent said side of the room comprising an upright post pivotally supported with anti-friction bearings adjacent its upper and lower ends, a track frame at the lower end of the post with a plurality of parallel tracks, and a guide frame at the upper end of the post with a plurality of parallel guides, said tracks and guides being alignable with the floor tracks and overhead guides.

2. In combination with a plurality of panels forming a partition in a room and slidable toward one side of the room on a floor track and overhead guide means, means for storing the panels adjacent said side of the room comprising an upright pivoted post, a track frame at the lower end of the post with a plurality of parallel tracks, a guide frame at the upper end of the post with a plurality of parallel guides, said tracks and guides being alignable with the floor tracks and overhead guides, and latch means disposed beneath the track frame and selectively engageable with the tracks on the frame to hold the tracks and guides in their aligned positions.

3. In combination with a plurality of panels forming a partition in a room and slidable toward one side of the room on a floor track and overhead guide means, means for storing the panels adjacent said side of the room comprising an upright post pivotally supported with anti-friction bearings adjacent its upper and lower ends, a track frame at the lower end of the post with a plurality of parallel tracks, a guide frame at the upper end of the post with a plurality of parallel guides, said tracks and guides being alignable with the floor tracks and overhead guides, and said parallel tracks and parallel guides having end portions disposed for direct alignment With the floor track and overhead guide.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,901,304 King Mar. 14, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 739,303 France Jan. 9, 1933 

